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I've used all three of the languages you mention for relatively large web applications. People will say PHP sucks because it is ugly and retarded and only has o

I've used all three of the languages you mention for relatively large web applications. People will say PHP sucks because it is ugly and retarded and only has one namespace. People will say Python sucks because of the whitespace issue and mod_python doesn't work on a $5/m shared hosting plan. Perl sucks of course because "the syntax is crazy!" But, huge sites are built in PHP (Facebook, Hype Machine, Flickr, half of Yahoo!), Python (much of Google) and Perl (craig's list). In my experience they are all about equivalent except for aesthetic reasons. The headaches in a web app are usually at the user interface level (DOM/CSS/Javascript) and at the systems level (there's a bug in fast cgi! MySQL imploded!) and language choice gluing it all together is mostly a matter of taste. People with taste overestimate its importance. You can get pretty far in the internet biz with no taste (MySpace... originally done in COLD FUSION). That said, the most tasteful option out of your choices is Python.

t0pj 18y ago
You can get pretty far in the internet biz with no taste (MySpace... originally done in COLD FUSION). And don't forget those non-tasty table/tr/td non-div tags MySpace is also known for. ;) Anyway, I think you have a point. Thanks for your insight.
iamelgringo 18y ago
Mod up for saying that language choice is primarily a matter of taste. But, there were a few other considerations for me when I chose Python as my development language over PHP and Ruby. I think that as far as language growth is concerned, Python has more buzz right now (no disrespect to PHP or Ruby intended). Google's app engine is all about Python right now, and that's going to dramatically increase the traction of Python in the web development world. Google is actively supporting Python development. Google has a lot riding on Python because it's one of the 4 sanctioned languages at the GOOG. I could be wrong, but I get the impression that Python is growing as a community and as a language faster than Ruby. This is why I chose Python over Ruby. I also chose Python, because I think that there's aspects to Python that will broaden my horizons and stretch me as a programmer as I learn it. I don't really get that impression with PHP. All things being equal, I'd rather learn a language that will stretch me as a programmer.
hello_moto 18y ago
Most of Google products were written in C++ or Java. GMail - Not Python AdSense - Not Python GMaps - Not Python Search - Not Python
- lyime 18y ago
  source?
  - hello_moto 18y ago
    AdSense - http://www.reddit.com/info/6m9fi/comments/c04990m http://www.reddit.com/info/6m9fi/comments/c04990m Reference to Guice. GMaps - my ex-TA was an intern at Maps team, she told me that mostly it is written in C++. She also told me how surprised she was when she found out that most big products were written in C++/Java instead of Python. GMail - might want to ask Paul Bucheit, but I remember vaguely coming across a blog post/article saying that it is written in C++ and Java. Joshua Bloch (Effective Java author) said that they developed in-house middleware that bridge Google's infrastructure with Java (BigTable, MapReduce were written in C++). I suspect Google is using JNI to access C/C++ based framework/infrastructure. So far, I only know 2 products written in Python: 1) YouTube (purchased) 2) Google Groups (semi purchased I think, from the people that brought you ClearSilver template in Python). I heard YouTube had to integrate their code to Google's infrastructure, but I don't know if they had to re-write some stuff.

t0pj 18y ago

You can get pretty far in the internet biz with no taste (MySpace... originally done in COLD FUSION). And don't forget those non-tasty table/tr/td non-div tags MySpace is also known for. ;) Anyway, I think you have a point. Thanks for your insight.

iamelgringo 18y ago

Mod up for saying that language choice is primarily a matter of taste. But, there were a few other considerations for me when I chose Python as my development language over PHP and Ruby. I think that as far as language growth is concerned, Python has more buzz right now (no disrespect to PHP or Ruby intended). Google's app engine is all about Python right now, and that's going to dramatically increase the traction of Python in the web development world. Google is actively supporting Python development. Google has a lot riding on Python because it's one of the 4 sanctioned languages at the GOOG. I could be wrong, but I get the impression that Python is growing as a community and as a language faster than Ruby. This is why I chose Python over Ruby. I also chose Python, because I think that there's aspects to Python that will broaden my horizons and stretch me as a programmer as I learn it. I don't really get that impression with PHP. All things being equal, I'd rather learn a language that will stretch me as a programmer.

hello_moto 18y ago

Most of Google products were written in C++ or Java. GMail - Not Python AdSense - Not Python GMaps - Not Python Search - Not Python

lyime 18y ago
source?
- hello_moto 18y ago
  AdSense - http://www.reddit.com/info/6m9fi/comments/c04990m http://www.reddit.com/info/6m9fi/comments/c04990m Reference to Guice. GMaps - my ex-TA was an intern at Maps team, she told me that mostly it is written in C++. She also told me how surprised she was when she found out that most big products were written in C++/Java instead of Python. GMail - might want to ask Paul Bucheit, but I remember vaguely coming across a blog post/article saying that it is written in C++ and Java. Joshua Bloch (Effective Java author) said that they developed in-house middleware that bridge Google's infrastructure with Java (BigTable, MapReduce were written in C++). I suspect Google is using JNI to access C/C++ based framework/infrastructure. So far, I only know 2 products written in Python: 1) YouTube (purchased) 2) Google Groups (semi purchased I think, from the people that brought you ClearSilver template in Python). I heard YouTube had to integrate their code to Google's infrastructure, but I don't know if they had to re-write some stuff.